I turned 30!

On November 14th I turned the big 3-0!! Because 30 is the last, big, milestone birthday I'll be having for a while (10 years?) I decided to go big. I forced 5 friends to go to Sayulita, Mexico (my favorite place)  with me for an entire week to ring in my new decade.

My birthday was on a Monday, but Sunday night at midnight we rang in my birthday with beers by our private pool and swimming and some super cute 3 and 0 sparklers Beth brought from home and the happy birthday song, of course!

Monday morning we made breakfast at the house (beans, rice, peppers & onions with runny eggs and Cotija and avocados on top and fried plantains on the side with coffee, yum!) and all ate together at our outdoor table. It was kind of cloudy that day but still really warm and I wanted to go to Secret Beach (AKA Playa Los Muertos) which is basically my favorite place that exists and I wanted to swim in the ocean and since it was my birthday everyone was on board with whatever I wanted to do which was the best. So, we grabbed some beers and towels and books walked to Secret Beach to spend a few hours playing in the waves, climbing rocks, reading books and buying more beers for 15 pesos from the pop-up beach bar.

^^Walking to the beach on my birthday^^

 ^^Me on my 30th birthday on a rock at Playa Los Muertos, Sayulita, Mexico^^

 ^^Pt. 2^^

^^Beth getting surprised by a giant wave^^

 ^^Josh in the ocean at secret beach^^

^^Holaaaaa! I'm on top of the world!^^

When Beth and I were swimming in the ocean at Secret Beach we kept seeing all these little bubbles in the water and we got totally freaked out. Turns out they were schools of little fish swimming up to us and then jumping out of the water to feed/try and eat us (obviously). It was borderline terrifying but also the funniest thing ever. We floated in the waves and laughed for like an hour and it was the best. It was exactly what I wanted to be doing on my 30th birthday.

When we started to get hungry the girls minus Katie (Me, Beth, Emily and Kylee) walked into town to The Real Fish Taco to get octopus tacos, margaritas and guacamole for lunch at my request.

^^Birthday Octopus Tacos, marg and guac^^

After lunch we went back to the house to hang out for a little while and then eventually shower and get ready for the evening. Before heading down to watch the sunset from the beach, all the ladies took a shot of tequila and Josh took a picture of our shot of tequila (thx Josh!!).

^^corralejo shots for the ladies on my bday^^

We rented a big, beautiful house for my birthday complete with a private pool(!!) which was so amazing. It was a block and a half from the beach too, which was great. Every evening while we were there we would grab beers from the fridge, walk down to the beach and watch the amazing sunsets. On the night of my birthday (which was also the night of the Super Moon!!) we walked down to watch the sunset and saw a crowd of people. We obviously walked over to investigate and we found that a nest of baby sea turtles had just hatched and were making their way to the ocean! BABY SEA TURTS AND I SHARED A BIRTHDAY BECUASE OF THE SUPERMOON AND IT WAS THE MOST MAGICAL THING! And because of the crowd of people surrounding them, none of them were eaten by birds and they all made it to the ocean and I feel like I have a v special connection with them. XO baby turts!

 ^^I was SO EXCITED to see the baby sea turtles^^

 ^^Go baby turts, go!^^

^^Look at how presh they are!^^

After all the baby sea turts made it to the ocean we settled in on a blanket to watch the sun set. Because it had been cloudy all day the sunset was gorgeous!

 ^^Transport me back here, please?^^

 ^^Sayulita birthday sunset^^

 ^^beach babe selfie (terrible)^^

 ^^Best friend, me, best friend in law^^

^^The Chicas!^^

After the beach there was more tequila and a speaker phone call to my parents (thanks for giving birth to me, but Katie has just poured me another shot of tequila, so I have to go, LOVEYOUBYE!!) and another tequila shot for the chicas!! And then there were street tacos that cost like $3 total for all 6 of us and were sooooo delicious (shot out to Kylee for taking us there) and more shots and this CRAZY "shot" that my "friends" got for me that was on fire and poured over a bunch of glasses that cascaded down into a bowl and the bartender threw this sand stuff at it which made it spark and the fire go crazy while everyone in Mexico sang happy birthday to me with the lights out in this random bar, and then I drank the shot through a straw and it was giant and hot and sooo strong and then I was drunk.

 ^^Shot #2 for the chicas^^

^^Birthday selfie with Beth^^

After we finished our amazing tacos and I finished my bowl of warm fire water we went to the swing bar to sit on swings and drink more (WHY?) and be warm outside in the middle of the night in November, because Mexico!! It was so good! Kylee also walked down the street and got us churros from the churro stand to share which was perfect. Fresh churros! Birthday goals, you guys!

^^Swing Bar^^ 

^^chicas on a swing^^ 

When we decided to move on from the swing bar, we said goodnight to Josh and Katie who were a little drunk and tired. Beth, Emily, Kylee and I then went to Don Pedros which was hosting a salsa night. Don Pedros was right on the beach which was great and when we got tired of watching the salsa dancing and taking a million terrible selfies we walked onto the sand and finished our beers next to the ocean.

^^Super sober, obvi^^

At that point we were all fairly sloshed and tired so we started walking home. Beth and I spotted a taco stand, so knowing it would help our hangovers the next day, we grabbed tacos to eat back at the house. Then, about 10 steps later, we drop the tacos on the street. Again, super sober. So we go back, get more tacos, eat them sitting on the ground on the side of the road, walk home, chug water, probably drunk text anyone who will pay attention to us since we finally have internet and pass the fuck out.

^^Street tacos on the street, which puts my birthday taco tally up to 3X!!^^

Miraculously my hangover the next day wasn't even terrible. Mexico, you so good to me! xo

It was everything I'd hoped and dreamed for my 30th birthday and I'm so thankful to all of the people who flew to a different country to celebrate with me for a whole week. Friend goals, birthday goals, and motherfucking life goals... am I right?!

Cheers to 30 years, babes!

NYC pt 4

NYC pt 1

NYC pt 2
NYC pt 3

Day 4 in NYC was our last full day in the city. We left the morning of day 5, so we had to make day 4 count minus the fact that the city was still under an extreme heat advisory.

Both Gaby and I wanted to walk across the Brooklyn bridge so we prioritized doing that on Sunday. We got ready and headed to the Subway which was apparently re-routed and skipped the stop we should have got off on. Obviously. Because why wouldn't that happen to us? We ended up DEEP in Brooklyn with no idea how to get back where we needed to be. We saw a bagel shop across the street from the subway stop though, and decided to grab some breakfast and figure out our plan for the day.

^^The view from BFE Brooklyn^^

We decided to call an Uber and have them take us to Brooklyn Brewing on recommendation of Alli. We quickly discovered that the Uber driver was crazy and not following directions and it was a million degrees in the car and Gaby and I were texting back and forth about how freaked out we were in the back seat so we eventually asked him to pull over and let us out, which he did begrudgingly. We then followed walking directions down to the water because the brewery was a million miles away and we were hot and cranky. We walked and Gaby may have had a mini-heat-meltdown from being hot and thirsty and having to pee really bad. NYC in August is so brutal. Eventually, by sheer luck we stumbled acorss the Brooklyn flea market which was so great. We got shave ice which was shaved from a block of ice!! and we both bought jewelry from local artists! and it was a nice break from walking.

^^Shitty pic of Shave Ice and the flea market and the bridge^^

 ^^The view from Brooklyn Bridge Park^^

^^A sculpture at Brooklyn Bridge Park^^

After wandering around the flea market for a bit we stopped by the Brooklyn Bridge Park to soak in the amazing view of Manhattan and then walked up toward the start of the bridge, stopping to buy ice cold bottled water along the way. The bridge was stunning and crowded and I got a really great shot of Gaby's epic back sweat (LOLz).

^^Brooklyn Bridge & Gaby's back sweat, because I'm a really good friend #neverforget^^

We were also able to see the statue of liberty and all of the Manhattan Skyline and it was kind of windy on the bridge but still really hot and there were a million people but miraculously we made it across alive (and this may have been the point where Gaby had a mini heat meltdown and I'm glad it wasn't only me who couldn't handle the conditions.

^^Pano of the bridge w/ the statue of liberty on the far left^^

I know I've breezed over a lot of the walking we did this day, but it was SO much. There were hills, we had no idea where we were going 1/2 the time. The journey was v v long and took a million hours and when we finally made it to the other side we were SO ready to hop in a cab and head back to the air conditioned hotel to shower and change into dry clothes and put on some lipstick to head back out again (it helped - lipstick always helps)!

^^The Flatiron Building^^

Eataly was on my list of things to do (because Italian food, duh!), so Gaby and I figured we'd pop in on our way out for the evening (it was really close to our hotel). We were seriously in heaven with all of the amazing food and pantry goods there. I ended up buying dried pasta and a jar of pesto and dried risotto to take home in my V V limited carry on space. No regrets! It was that magical! They need to bring Eataly to Seattle ASAP!

^^Outside of Eataly^^

After Eataly we headed to the West Village so I could show Gaby around. We wandered around, window shopped, took pics of the cute brownstones, went into Sockerbit for candy to take on the plane (!!!) and then met up with a very sweaty, overheated Mark. At that point we were all pretty cranky and hot and we remembered that we were right by Fish (where Mark and I met night 1) and that Fish had the coldest ever air conditioning, so we went back. Red, White & Blues for everyone! The cold beers and oysters really hit the spot!!

After we had cooled down and got a little something in us, we decided to meet up with Faith for some real food. We walked a few blocks to Artichoke Pizza, which Faith had been raving about for days, and got slices and more beers (obviously). We all got the Artichoke Pizza (Artichoke Hearts, Spinach, Cream Sauce, Mozzarella and Pecorino Romano Cheese) and omg it was sooo good and SO giant!

^^The Artichoke Pizza at Artichoke Pizza & a Goose IPA^^

While I was sitting in the boiling hot pizza joint, eating my slice, drinking my beer, I look out the window and see this sign for a piercing place!! How perfect! Our last night in NYC and I'd been wanting to get more piercings on my right ear for like 2 years!! I declared to everyone that I wanted to get pierced. Faith was in! Mark and Gaby were not in. Faith decided we needed shots first (DUH) - Pickle Back's (since I'd never had one) please! And into the piercing place we went.

I went first. I got two holes on my right ear, a second stud and a third loop and it was so cute despite the fact that the third loop still isn't fully healed months later. Faith went second and didn't take the pain well (lolz see pics below). She got a second hole on each ear, one stud and one hoop! Mark, at the last minute decided he would buy an earring and see if the guy could get it through his slightly closed ear hole. Piercings to remember NYC were the best (and also cost A MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS HOLY COW #highwayrobbery #worthit). What a great way to remember a great trip for a v long time!

^^Faith getting her second holes^^

^^Freshly pierced babes!^^

^^Mark is so cool/calm (unlike Faith and I)^^ 

^^Close up!^^

^^Piercings to remember the best trip^^

After our piercings we decided to grab another round of drinks and pickle backs at the bar across the street. It was a Sunday night and I had an early flight the next morning and Faith had work so we only stayed out long enough to talk about online dating and also introduce Mark to SnapChat!

Gaby and I took the subway back to our hotel, got turned around getting off and walked a few blocks longer than necessary but it was nice to really soak in the city one last time. We popped into the photo booth in the lobby when we got back, obviously! And ordered two glasses of champagne to enjoy in the lobby on our last night and celebrate having, really, really the best trip.

 ^^The funniest sign in the hallway at the Ace^^

^^Photobooth LOVE^^

The next morning I got up super duper early and headed to the airport in a town car because I was running late and the hotel man told me that they cost the same as a cab, but it was a million degrees inside that town car and I was sitting in the back seat and I'm already prone to car sickness and that ride made me so so SO car sick. I breathed a sigh of relief when I got dropped off at the airport and after getting through security and taking a hot and very jerky shuttle to another terminal, I ran into the bathroom and vomited for like 5 minutes. It was legitimately awful. I think the heat finally caught up with me. It felt like a terrible combo of heat and motion sickness. I have never thrown up in an airport before and I hope to never do it again. I bought some Dramamine for the flight, ate some shitty airport Chinese food for breakfast and flew home. 

I can't wait for next time, NYC! But if you could like, not have extreme weather that makes me vomit in an airport and have a melt down in Central Park next time I'm there I'd really love that. xoxo

NYC pt 3

NYC pt 1
NYC pt 2

Day 3 in NYC with a million hours long! Day 3 was also the day I had an epic meltdown. Thanks a lot, extreme heat!

The day started out with an iced Americano from Stumptown and then the best and biggest bagel I've ever eaten from Bagels & Schmear thanks to a tip from the bellman at our hotel & thanks to Regan for letting me know that if you're super legit you don't get your bagel toasted. The bagel was so giant I couldn't finish the whole thing and so delicious that I wish I would have brought a million of them back with me in my carry-on. I dream of that bagel!

^^Sesame seed bagel, cream cheese, lox^^

Gaby and I then hopped on the subway (where I found that the markets in the subway sell bottled water for $1 and grabbed a few for the trip, what a lifesaver!!) and headed north to Central Park, a must-see for both of us during our trip. We walked into the park and were immediately blown away by how gorgeous it was, especially in spots where you could see the buildings peeking out from behind all the greenery!

^^I mean, look at that!^^ 

^^Gaby playing photog in Central Park^^

^^Gaby and I trying to stay cool in the park^^

We didn't get very far into the park when we stopped to take some pictures on a bridge. This is the point where my meltdown started. We were using Gaby's fancy, new camera to take some pictures and it was fun and gorgeous, but it was on an unshaded, cement bridge in the middle of a park in the middle of a heat advisory. A few minutes after we walked off of the bridge I started feeling overheated but got distracted when we saw a giant, fluffy dog losing it. He couldn't walk, he was stumbling and finally laid down in the middle of the walkway while his owner shouted at him to get up and move. It was legitimately awful to watch. We couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the trip. We hope you're OK poor bb dog.

After passing the dog we headed toward the middle of the park. I kept getting hotter and hotter, crankier and crankier. We stopped to sit down. I bought an ice cold bottle of water and was trying to get it down but having trouble. Eventually it was getting hard to walk and I was being short with Gaby because was feeling super sick. I'm pretty sure I was about to get heat stroke and die like that poor dog so I demanded that we get into some AC ASAP. I've had heat stroke once before and it was terrible. I wasn't about to have our trip ruined by a trip to the ER, so AC was necessary.

 ^^Look, it's a cute pic of me on a bridge in central park right before I lost my shit^^

We walked out of the park and up 5th Avenue until we hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the MET) and rushed inside. Ice Cold AC has never felt so good or been so necessary to my health! When we got inside we found some benches and sat for about 15 minutes to recover from the extreme heat and to check our phones courtesy of the free-museum-WiFi. Let this be a warning to all of you: never, ever, ever go in a giant-ass park in the middle of a literal heat advisory. Ever. Never! Bad idea!

After I'd at least partially pulled it together we got up and wandered around the museum. We walked through the ancient sculptures first (and I was a child and took a lot of snapchats of marble penises and face swaps with sculptures). Then we made a game plan and made our way to the American Paintings which we both loved so much. There were some really amazing paintings of Native American camps and old homesteads and beautiful mountain scenery. I could have looked at them for hours but eventually I started to get really hungry and tired (hint: my meltdown was not over) and the line for the café at the museum was about a hundred people long so we wandered out and grabbed some ice cream from a truck across the street.

 ^^face swapping with a sculpture like mature adults^^

^^We are mature adults pt. 2, featuring a sculpted penis^^

^^So happy for cold food (ice cream with sprinkles!!) across the street from the Met^^

After our ice cream we hopped in a cab to take us back to the subway station (it was wayyy too hot to walk 20 blocks) that would take us to the Express in SoHo which was doing a DryBar pop-up Gaby found and we though would be fun to hit. When we got off the subway we ended up walking the wrong way in the excruciating heat. I was getting cranky again. When we finally got into Express I was in a full blown rage, and trying to chug $1 subway water while I pretended to shop. Gaby ended up getting her hair done into a fabulous updo (fo free) while I sat next to her swatting the hairstylists away from my head, telling them with my eyes that if they touched me I would literally kill them, but with my words that I was too sweaty and gross and felt bed having them touch my nasty hair (but seriously, don't touch me or I will murder you). When we were done we headed back to Top Hops where Faith was pouring beers and where Mark was waiting for us. I love you, Top Hops.

At Top Hops there were ice cold beers and ice cold air conditioning and a million glasses of ice water and olives and pretzels (thanks to Faith) and after a few minutes there I felt a million times better. My hours and hours long heat-meltdown was finallyyyyyyyy over!! Hallelujah!  

^^Me, Gaby and Mark at Top Hops. I'm the happiest I've been since my bagle at this point. Hooray for beer and food and AC!^^

Eventually we got hungry for some real food and headed to Café Gitane (the one on Mott St.) on recommendation from two different chef friends of Mark. They recommended the chicken sandwich with anchovies which Mark and I both got and was amazing (Organic roasted chicken, chipotle mayonnaise, fresh parmesan, roasted tomatoes on French baguette (anchovies [not] optional)) along with a bottle of the Pouilly Fuisse (white wine) to split between the three of us. It was a great recommendation and we were all so happy to eat a real meal.

^^Delicious chicken sandwich with a side salad and white wine^^

^^The three of us outside of Café Gitane^^

At the end of dinner our friend May came and met us. May is from Hood River (she and I used to work with at Ground a million years ago) and was in town practicing for an Opera she sang in a few weeks ago. We decided we should just continue drinking with May (duh) somewhere with AC (double duh) and headed to McSorley's on a tip from one of Gaby's coworkers. McSorley's is New York City’s oldest continuously operated saloon and they served the smallest beers I've ever seen that were half foam (no jokes) but the bar was super chill and we ended up ordering a few rounds (which was SO easy to do considering the beers lasted about 3 sips). Oh, also when we asked what kind of beers they had the bartender's response was "light beer or dark beer" lol. Okay then!

^^Bullshit McSorley's light beer^^

^^Gaby and McSorley! (lol, jk. That's actually some dude named Brennen who was serving us, but doesn't he look like he should be McSorley??^^

After McSorley's May headed home while Gaby, Mark and I hopped in an Uber and headed to the Standard Hotel at the Highline to hit up the rooftop bar we'd been hearing great things about! When we arrived we discovered that the bar was closed for a wedding (whatttt?) and the bouncer told us that the rental for the space was over $100,000. WHAT? After being told that no, we couldn't crash the wedding, and even if he did let us in we would be extremely underdressed and wouldn't blend in for even a minute (lol) we turned around and headed down the street to another bar. We ended up wandering into a restaurant/bar called the Spice Market which was the very best decision. They had some of the best drinks I've ever had! And there was a DJ, and a bachelorette party that looked like they were from the Jersey Shore which offered the best people watching.

^^Tiki Drink from the Spice Market FTW, sooo good!^^ 

^^Gaby and I enjoying our drinks at the Spice Market^^

While we were at Spice Market I got the BEST idea and immediately told Gaby and Mark that I had a surprise for them and ushered them into an Uber. The first stop was the John Dory Oyster Bar for Oyster Shooters and a few snacks. The oyster shooters were made up or a shot of tequila or gin, with celery salt and pickled pepper juice mixed in and then there was a raw oyster on the half shell on top. You ate the oyster first (we think) and then took the shot and they were sooo good. I could go for one right now. My liver on the other hand is glad I live so far away from those tasty, boozy treats!

 ^^Cheers! Oyster Shooters at the John Dory Oyster Bar^^

^^More oyster shooters! Cheers!^^

By the time we finished our food it was almost 1am and I ushered Gaby and Mark up the street and revealed that I was taking them up the Empire State Building. At 1am! It was genius, there was no line and almost no people up there and there was a lightening storm happening in the distance. It was perfect and they were both shocked it was still open!

^^Ready? Let's do this! To the top!^^

^^Views for days^^ 

^^One more. View from the top of the Empire State Building at 1am. Can you see the Flatiron Building down there in the middle of the pic?^^

Gaby was so happy to be in NYC she ended up crying happy tears and calling her mom from the top while Mark and I wandered around tipsy-ly, taking in the view. It was one of the most magical parts of our trip. I know I already said it, but the lightening storm was seriously awesome to watch from up there too!

^^Gaby and I at the top of the Empire State Building^^

After we were told the observation deck was closing and were taken back down to the bottom of the building, I had one last suggestion: Times Square. So that we could say we saw it. Because, when in NYC! We hopped in an Uber, got out and stood in Times Square for a few minutes before feeling overwhelmed and getting in another Uber back to our hotel.

 ^^Times Square at like 2:30am^^

^^Times Square selfie^^

When Gaby and I got back to our hotel we decided to hop in the photo booth in the lobby (duh!) before heading back up to our room to collapse in bed after the longest, best day.

^^Cheers^^